Chalkbeat: Teacher Prep Academy hopes to hook high schoolers on teaching — but its funding is in jeopardy

For Brooklynne Ford, becoming a teacher is all about being a positive force in a kid’s life and “helping people.”

The rising senior at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis is getting started on her teaching education early through Teacher Prep Academy, a University of Indianapolis program now in its third year. At the academy, 21 high school students take dual-credit courses and live and learn on the university’s campus for one week. The program is funded by a roughly $700,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Education.

Those who run Teacher Prep Academy hope that in a small way it can help address the ongoing teacher shortage — which is also a challenge nationwide — by preparing high school students to enter the profession. However, they’re uncertain about the academy’s future, since the state grant that funds the program has run out.

“The point of having this camp is to get high schoolers who are interested in going into education and give them a little taste of what education is like as a career,” said program coordinator Leah Trost. [continue reading]